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May 2, 2013

LPL Financial Gains Ingham as Hybrid RIA Affiliate

The Florida-based firm has more than 10 advisors and $1.5 billion in assets under administration

LPL Financial (LPLA) said early Thursday that the Ingham Retirement Group was now affiliated with its broker-dealer and RIA custodial platforms.

According to LPL, the national retirement plan consulting and investment advisory firm has some $1.5 billion in assets under administration ($1.1 billion of which it manages).

It is based in Miami and includes 12 financial advisors and about 38 other financial profession staff members.

“We are delighted to welcome such a large and successful retirement plan-focused organization as Ingham Retirement Group to the LPL Financial broker-dealer and RIA custodial platforms,” said Bill Morrissey (left), LPL’s executive vice president of business development, in a press release. “Over the years, Ingham has steadily built itself into a multifaceted industry leader, and we are pleased to provide our partnership and support to expand their areas of expertise.”

Ingham has done work on more than 7,600 benefit plans in 40 states. Also, it is a member of the Alliance Benefit Group, a network of firms that do retirement plan, investment advisory, health, welfare and benefits administration consulting work.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about joining the LPL Financial broker-dealer and RIA custodial platforms. Their extensive technological, research and support capabilities provide tremendous operational efficiencies,” said Ingham President and CEO Kenneth Ingham, in a statement.

“Additionally, we believe that the networking and best-practices learning opportunities that come from an affiliation with LPL Financial are enormously valuable. As a leader in the independent advisory space, with its deep understanding of retirement plan advisors and sponsors, and with its other specialties in areas such as high-net-worth services, LPL Financial really understands our particular needs,” Ingham said.

In its latest quarterly results, LPL Financial said the number of affiliated advisors rose by about 3% year over year to 13,377 from 12,962; it also added 25 reps since Jan. 1. The broker-dealer's level of total advisory and brokerage assets jumped 11% to $394 billion, while the level of assets on its fee-based platforms grew close to 18% to $130.2 billion.

Net new advisory assets, excluding market movement, were $3 billion for the first quarter, driven by “strong advisor productivity and the growth in independent RIA assets,” according to the company.

Assets under custody on LPL’s independent RIA platform grew 72.3% to $46.7 billion as of March 31. These operations now include 199 RIA firms, compared with $27.1 billion and 152 RIA firms a year ago.

“This is a significant level of outperformance,” said CFO Dan Arnold in an interview with AdvisorOne. “While the hybrid RIA platform is growing from a smaller base [than the corporate RIA platform], it’s proving very popular with RIAs run by advisors. It’s another way for advisors to plug into LPL’s models and should continue to outpace other areas’ growth rates.”

Arnold noted that he expects about 20% to 25% of LPL’s net new assets to come from the hybrid RIA channel in 2013.

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